Life satisfaction among young adults from rural families

This study examined whether objective indicators of life conditions (e.g., status attainment variables, closeness to one's childhood home, and community size) and subjective measures of life circumstances (e.g., self-esteem and frustrations about limited job opportunities) would predict life satisfaction in a sample of low-income youth from rural Appalachia. Data were acquired by questionnaires as part of a longitudinal project on 322 young people in their early twenties. Multiple regression was used to analyze the data provided by these respondents. Both subjective and objective conditions of life were predictors of life satisfaction in low-income youth from rural Appalachia. Although objective attainment variables (i.e., educational and occupational attainment) did not predict, financial resources, self-esteem, and proximity to one's childhood home were positive predictors; frustrations about limited job opportunities and community size were negative predictors of life satisfaction. Several implications are discussed for intervention programs by family and other professionals.